time for love
by Hannaadi88
Summary: {Post S8} Shiro has been pining over Keith for years and years, afraid of ruining their relationship and imposing should he ever confess. But with the war finally over, perhaps it is finally time to be vulnerable.


Forty minutes of cleaning and organizing complete, Shiro stands in the middle of his living room and looks around.

His eyes have had years of training, sharpening his sight to detect even the smallest speck of dust on an unsuspecting trainee's bedpost during inspection. Before the Garrison, Shiro had been neat, but one did not become a commander by just being 'neat'. Your room, your uniform, your salute- everything had to be perfect.

And Shiro had tried his best. He'd given the Garrison, his _home_, his best. Somehow, it had been enough for them- and Shiro's best became the standard for all those who wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Shiro absently wonders what his boot camp commanders would think of their star trainee now if they were to walk into his bedroom. What would his own trainees think of their commander, encouraging them to fulfil their potential while he didn't even make his bed every morning since he'd left.

But none of that mattered, now. Shiro wasn't a trainee or even a commander anymore. Not at the Garrison, not of the Atlas. He'd earned himself a break, Shiro would like to think, and after spending what felt like eternity in the astral plane, Shiro has a long bucket list he's already crossed a few items off of.

There hadn't been much else to do in the Astral plane other than to think of all the things he'd do if he ever made it out.

And, If all went well tonight, he'll get to cross off the first and most important item on his list.

Shiro gives the room a curt nod of approval and moves on to the mirror hanging in the hallway. The living room looked cosy, if not a little bland. He wasn't about to go out and buy throw pillows just for the occasion. Or…maybe he should?

No. Keith wouldn't care about some pillow.

Confident in his decision, Shiro stops in front of the mirror and purses his lips at his reflection. He still isn't quite sure how he feels about his hair color. No other man his age walked around with a full head of whitish-grey. It was disconcerting. Then again, hardly anyone noticed his hair- not when his new arm was hovering in the air. In light of that, did the hair really matter?

It did, a little. But somehow Shiro cannot bring himself to color it. Not when it was Allura's touch that returned him to his body and brought about the change. Shiro can't help but feel that it would be disrespectful to her effort, to her memory.

Shiro squares his shoulders and gives his reflection one last glance before looking down at his clothes. He'd opted for something nice, but not too nice. Keith would immediately guess that something was up if he came over and found Shiro in a suit and tie. Shiro is fairly certain that his white dress shirt and blue jeans are a good balance between the two: a little nicer than usual, but not enough to tip Keith off.

For a moment, Shiro wonders if he should really be doing this. If this wasn't just one big act of selfishness.

"You deserve to be happy," Sam had told him earlier that week, and Shiro can still hear the words in the back of his mind. "Keith would want you to be happy."

Sam was right, of course. Keith is the most selfless person Shiro knows, and he frequently ignored his own needs and desires for the sake of what he considered to be the greater good.

And that is exactly what Shiro is scared of.

After searching for so long, Keith had finally found his calling with the Blades of Marmora, travelling from one planet to the other and helping with whatever was needed. The last thing Shiro wants is to take Keith away from a place he feels needed, from a mission he'd told Shiro during one of their recent conversation that he considered to be 'the most important thing I've ever done'.

How could Shiro impose himself and ask for Keith's time after hearing something like that?

_By holding back, you're denying him the opportunity to make his own decisions. _

Sam really did have a way with words.

Sighing, Shiro runs his fingers through his hair and looks back at the living room. He hopes Keith will appreciate the bowl of Gramo-Chips he'd set out on the coffee table. After hearing Keith rave about them, Shiro had been determined to try the Gramo based chips from Li'urk that Keith swore tasted like a combination of fried potatoes and butter. It'd been easy enough to find them at the local mall that had become a popular trade hub, with various alien merchants selling their wares. The merchant had even thrown in an extra bag after recognizing Shiro as one of the Paladins of Voltron.

Personally, Shiro doesn't think Gramo tastes anything like potatoes, but if they made Keith happy then he had no problem stocking up on the chips just for his visits.

Hopefully those visits won't stop once Shiro tells Keith how much he means to him.

How much he loves him.

Shiro curls his hands into fists and grits his teeth. He's thought of this moment thousands of times, examined it from a million different angles and tried to come up with the perfect wording that would have the most impact with minimal risk. Such a confession is very difficult to phrase, however, and Keith's reaction was near impossible to predict.

Shiro still isn't sure what he's going to say. All he knows is that he isn't going to let Keith walk out of his door without having told him exactly how he feels.

Shiro remembers the moment he realized that he was in love with Keith. He wonders if he should mention it in his confession. He'd felt many things for Keith over the years- fondness, protectiveness, exasperation and confidence in Keith's ability to shine wherever he went.

He'd wanted Keith to succeed, perhaps because Keith reminded Shiro of himself. Talented, lonely and angry at the world for taking away the people he loved. While Shiro had channelled that anger into his studies and wore a smile to placate the people around him, however, Keith pushed everyone away and didn't surround himself with meaningless relationships in an attempt to fill the void inside him.

In a way, Shiro admired the child he'd met at the school all those years ago. Keith never pretended to be someone he was not. Shiro could only respect him for it.

Over time, his relationship with Keith changed from mentorship to genuine friendship, one of the few honest friendships Shiro had ever experienced. Keith could read him like an open book, always knew exactly what Shiro was feeling before even Shiro could sort his emotions. He'd supported Shiro's decision to go on the Kerberos mission and held his hand when Adam returned his engagement ring.

Returning to space just after escaping the Galra had been terrifying, and Shiro doesn't know if he could've held up as well as he did and commanded the team as the Black Paladin without Keith's reassuring presence and late-night conversations. Keith was truly the brother Shiro never had, closer than anyone he'd ever been to. Shiro shared with Keith painful stories from his childhood than not even Adam had heard.

The moment that friendship became something more was just after their first battle against Zarkon as a team. The Lions had separated while going through the wormhole and he and Keith ended up on a hostile planet. Shiro had been injured, cornered by hungry beasts and vulnerable when Keith came swooping in, piloting the Black Lion to save him.

Keith had never shone so brightly.

Since that day, Shiro had kept his growing feelings to himself. He supposes he was lucky that Keith hadn't shown any interest in any of the other paladins or aliens they met, as Lance and Hunk had done. Shiro isn't sure how he would've handled that. It wasn't like he could tell Keith that he loved him just then- he was the Leader. It wouldn't be right to favour one member of the team over the others.

And then…well. Shiro had spent a very long time in the Astral plane. And by the time Allura returned him to his body, so much had changed. So much was happening. No one knew if they were going to make it out of the war alive.

But now…

Maybe it was finally time for love.

The doorbell rings and Shiro immediately snaps back into the present. He gives his reflection one last look before walking over to the door and opening it with a wide smile.

His smile remains frozen in place as he sees Keith standing on his doorstep, next to Lance.

"Hey, Shiro."

Shiro's eyes snap to Keith's slightly flushed face. He looked almost…shy? A little nervous, for sure. But mostly happy.

Shiro's heart sinks as he looks down. Lance and Keith were holding hands.

Maybe it really was time for love.

But not for him.


End file.
